France endured\u00a0centuries of Absolute Monarchs that spent\u00a0much of their kingdom’s wealth on lavish buildings, monuments, and other signs of status, while the common people, known as the third estate, remained\u00a0poor, hungry and devoid of power.\u00a0\u00a0Though the third\u00a0estate lacked power through the\u00a0traditional estate system,\u00a0as the clergy and nobility could overrule their political ambitions, it consisted of 96% of the French population.\u00a0 Because it held the overwhelming majority of the population, members of the third estate believed that they should hold more power over France’s decisions.\u00a0 Thus power was subsequently moved away from absolute rulers, nobility, and clergy and towards the third estate.<\/p>\n
One of the most profound demonstrations of this shift was the change from the state following Catholicism to supporting more general Deist practices.\u00a0\u00a0Revolutionaries saw the clergy as\u00a0a corrupt entity created to justify a Monarch as well as being a way to neutralize the common man’s power in the estate system.\u00a0 Therefore, revolutionaries aimed to reduce its power by shifting France’s religion to Deism.\u00a0 This meant that the clergy\u00a0and nobility\u00a0would have less power over the third estate.\u00a0 Likewise, it meant that the third estate now had control over\u00a0their own religious preferences and would not have to pay to the\u00a0church.<\/p>\n
Another\u00a0shift away from the past Absolutist ways of France was the general condemnation of\u00a0royalty.\u00a0 Children were prohibited from receiving names of past kings such as Louis, Francis, or Henry.\u00a0 Kings and queens\u00a0where removed from games such as chess and cards.\u00a0 The general attitude of disapproval of royalty was promoted by members of the third estate as they realized their power as their society’s majority.<\/p>\n
France underwent a shift away from absolutism towards democracy.\u00a0 Much of the government supported by the revolutionaries had roots to the Greek concepts of equality and free thought.\u00a0 These ideas mixed with the third estate’s desire to have political input and led France in its modernization and ultimately its rejection of Absolutist practices.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
France endured\u00a0centuries of Absolute Monarchs that spent\u00a0much of their kingdom’s wealth on lavish buildings, monuments, and other signs of status, while the common people, known as the third estate, remained\u00a0poor, hungry and devoid of power.\u00a0\u00a0Though the third\u00a0estate lacked power through … Continue reading